I remember what Mrs. Brook said about practicing
empathy and I go into the living room and look at Dad’s shoes.

In Greek, "en" means "in" and "pathos" means "emotion" so Caitlin is trying to enter into her dad's emotions by looking at his shoes, as if she were going to literally walk in his shoes. If she were practicing sympathy, she would share with her dad emotions that they have in common.

I run into Lowe’s and race up and down the aisles and Dad is chasing me saying, Caitlin Caitlin! Excuse me ma’am! Sorry! Caitlin! Excuse me! until I find the place with the
hinges and I’m panting with excitement and I shake my hands for Dad to hurry up and he’s panting too and says, CAIT-LIN! but I say, Which ones? as I rattle the different-sized boxes of
hinges.

The hinges have both literal and symbolic meanings here. Not only are the characters actually looking to buy metal joints, but they are also joining more closely together as father and daughter in the search for parts for their project.

I pull her desk out of the row and push it all the way to the back corner of the room and shove it up against the wall where the
terrarium was until the turtle died.

In Latin, "vivere" means "to live"--a vivarium is a place for keeping and observing living things: "terra" means "earth" so a terrarium holds living things that are close to the earth, such as plants and small animals such as turtles and lizards; "aqua" means "water" so an aquarium holds living things that need water, which could include plants but are usually fish and other creatures that swim.

I think there’s a silent
auction and a raffle and I’m not sure what else.

The Latin "augere" means "to increase" while the Middle English "rafle" means "a game using dice"--the roots show the difference between these two methods of fundraising, since participants in a silent auction can keep increasing the cost of a specific prize, while participants in a raffle can buy as many tickets as they want for a specific prize but each ticket costs the same amount and has the same chance as others of being drawn.

Also snow can be pink if red dirt
dissolves in water that evaporates and—Dad squeezes my shoulder. This means the conversation is over.

Dissolving and evaporation are similar processes that change matter into other forms: in Latin, "dis" means "apart" and "solvere" means "to release" so a solid object (such as red dirt) passes into a solution when its parts are broken up and released into liquid form; "ex" means "out" and "vapor" means "steam" so a liquid object (such as water) that evaporates changes into steam and seemingly disappears.

I get a recess feeling in my stomach and try not to think about the Eagle Scout project that never got to
exist.

In Latin, "ex" means "out" and "sistere" means "to stand"--this gives a stronger meaning to the example sentence, since the Eagle Scout project, if it had been brought to life by Devon, would have stood out.

In Latin, "ex" means "out" and "pendere" means "to pay"--the example sentence gives two reasons why the wood would not be an affordable thing for Caitlin and her dad to buy. But as expensive as the wood might be, they can't afford not to buy it, because they need to build a new chest in order to rebuild their lives.